Knitwear designer and knitting blogger – Shortrounds

It’s been a whole 18 months since I last shared a ‘Who I’m following on Instagram’ post. So I thought it was high time I ran through a few new accounts I’ve been loving lately. I still follow these top knitting accounts I shared way back in July 2016, but in the last year and a half I’ve added these 10 inspirational hand knitters and yarn dyers to my list!

I’m sorry in advance for putting such lovely yarns right under your nose. But I’ve been fortunate to find some absolute beauties in recent weeks and just had to put them all in one handy place. Ready for a pay day / ‘Yes I made it through Dry January!’ / ‘Darn I messed up Dry January, oh well, I’ll make myself feel better by buying some gorgeous new yarn!’

There’s a mixture of luxury and more affordable yarns in here, that I’ve earmarked for upcoming projects. The colourways are stunning and very wearable. I’m desperately searching for a supersoft striped yarn to use for my Weekender sweater by Andrea Mowry, but the right one hasn’t crept up yet (any suggestions, please let me know)! But without further ado, here are the yarns I’m ogling right now.

It’s been six months since the release of my Hessian Shawl. (Woah, I blinked and half a year went by!) I’d always planned this pattern as a two colour project, with a feature panel to really play with hand dyed, speckled yarns. So I’d never considered I’d make a single colour version. But second time around, when it came to the point where I should switch yarns and begin the contrasting section…I just kept knitting. And I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Back in this post from February 2017, I set myself a handful of knitting goals in the hope of building my skills as a knitter and stumbling upon new fibres and producers. So 12 months on….how did I do?

If you haven’t already discovered this amazing #2018makenine doing the rounds on Instagram, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

I think this is a great alternative to setting resolutions for the new year. When do we ever really stick to them?

So I’m 100% jumping on this bang wagon and setting myself nine ‘makes’ for 2018. With the benefit of experience from last year’s reading challenge, I know my goals/projects change and adapt throughout the course of a year, so expect this list of nine to mould and transform across the next 12 months. But for now, here are the nine I’m hoping to tackle and complete this year!

It’s unbelievable to me that it is December 2017. This year has delivered the highest highs and the lowest lows for me in all of my 30 years. I turned 30 this year, and rather than shy away and fear the big 3-0, I’ve welcomed it, I mean…I knit, live most of my life in my pyjamas and prefer nights in to nights out. I’m 30 going on 80. Continue reading →

And if you head on over to my Ravelry store at any point this weekend, I’m offering 25% off all patterns until midnight GMT Monday. All you have to do is enter ITSTHATWEEKEND25 at checkout and you’ll receive your discount.

I’m almost at the end of my Popsugar Reading Challenge 2017, and I’m already thinking of what books I’ll be reading after it ends. So my little experiment has worked! I now read so much more, I listen to audiobooks when I knit, so my other time-consuming past-time hasn’t suffered as a result.

It’s been a while since I shared a yarn haul on Shortrounds. And following a jaunty trip to Fibre East, and me finally giving in to gazing longingly at Eden Cottage Yarn’s latest additions, it’s a bumper haul to be sure!

Let’s start with beautiful Yorkshire hand dyers – Eden Cottage Yarns. Earlier this year, I chose their Bowland 4ply yarn in colourway Misty Woods to create my Hessian Shawl, and loved the quality and outcome of my shawl so much I treated myself to a few skeins of Hayton 4ply – cashmere and merino gorgeousness! This time in Misty Woods and the ever-so-complementary Apricot Tulip. I’m planning to turn this into another original Shortrounds design – so watch this space!